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Bullet ants
Paraponera clavata is a of , commonly known as the bullet ant, named for its . It inhabits humid lowland s from and the extreme east of and south to . Etymology The of the ant, , means "club-shaped". The , Paraponera, translates to "near-'' ". Due to its notoriety, the ant has several Native American, Spanish, and Portuguese local names in different geographical areas. Perhaps the best known name is the Venezuelan '' (the "24 ant" or "24-hour ant"), referring to the full day of pain that follows being stung; it can also refer to the time it takes to kill a human. In Brazil, the names given by locals include , , or (big black ant), and Native American-derived names are tocandera, tocandira, and tocanquibira. These names derive from the tuca-ndy, which translates to "the one wounding deeply". Other names by which it is referred include chacha, cumanagata, munuri, siámña, yolosa, and viente cuatro hora hormiga. In Costa Rica, P. clavata is known as bala, meaning "bullet". P. clavata also has several common names; it is most commonly known as the bullet ant because of the extreme pain it delivers following a sting, similar to that of getting shot. Other names are the lesser giant hunting ant and ant. Taxonomy '' (pictured) is the only known species that is closely related to Paraponera clavata.}} Paraponera clavata was first by Danish in 1775, who named it Formica clavata in his Systema entomologiae, based on a worker he collected. Fabricius incorrectly listed the as India, as these ants are only found in Central and South America. In 1804, P. clavata was transferred to the genus by the French zoologist . The genus was established by the British entomologist in 1858, and P. clavata was designated as the by (the condition of a taxonomic group having only a single described). In his book, Smith would synonymise multiple taxa under Paraponera clavata, including Formica armata, Formica spininoda, Ponera tarsalis and Ponera clavata. Later publications would also synonymise more taxa, including Formica aculeata and Formica clavata. The genus was placed in a monotypic tribe, the Paraponerini, in 1901 by the Italian entomologist , who stressed the importance of certain morphological characteristics of Paraponera; Emery had also placed the tribe close to the Ectatommini. This classification was accepted by the entomological community until 1958, where the American entomologist William Brown Jr. synonymised Paraponerini and transferred Paraponera to Ectatommini. It was treated as a valid tribe in 1994, but in 2003, the English elevated the rank of the tribe to subfamily level as Paraponerinae, being a part of the . Under the present classification, the bullet ant is a member of the genus Paraponera in the tribe Paraponerini, subfamily Paraponerinae. It is a member of the family , belonging to the order , It was once the sole member of its own genus and tribe until the extinct was described in 1994 by the entomologist Cesare Baroni Urbani. The ant, described from , existed during the 15 to 45 million years ago. P. dieteri can be distinguished from P. clavata by its much narrower head, length, pronotum width, petiole width and other features. The good preservation of the fossil allowed comprehensive comparisons between the two species; the body sculpture of P. dieteri suggests that the genus as a whole exhibits a slow evolutionary rate. P. clavata is the only living species in its subfamily. Although P. dieteri was the first extinct relative of P. clavata to be described, another Paraponera fossil had been examined earlier in the 1980s. The fossil, which was from the Miocene, was found embedded in Dominican Amber from ; at the time of discovery, the ant was the largest fossil of its kind. It showed similar characteristics to P. clavata, although it was considerably smaller. The fossil also has biogeographic importance. As P. clavata is not found in the , but rather in Central and South America, this suggests that moister tropical forests covered the island during the Tertiary period. This is further supported by the fact that P. clavata is a forest ant that forages on the ground and up into bushes and trees. Description Worker ants are long and resemble stout, reddish-black, wingless s. Paraponera is y, and like all primitive , does not display in the worker caste; the is not much larger than the workers. They are not aggressive ants but are vicious when defending the nest, when they produce a sound and sting with ferocity. Distribution and habitat Paraponera is distributed throughout and , commonly found in the wet . These ants are found in , , and from the north, and in , , , , and from the south. Colonies are found in lowland areas, at elevations ranging from sea level to 750 m (2,460 ft). However, specimens have been collected at elevations of 1,500 m (4,920 ft) in . Colonies consist of several hundred individuals and are usually situated at the bases of trees. Workers in the area directly above the nest for small and , often as far as the upper ; little foraging occurs on the forest floor. Nectar, carried between the , is the most common food taken back to the nest by foragers. Two studies in Costa Rica and on (BCI) found about four bullet ant nests per of forest. On BCI, the nests were found under 70 species of trees, six species of shrubs, two species of s, and one species of palm. Nests were most common beneath the canopies of occidentalis and tuberculata, but these trees are also the most abundant in the forest. Nests were present more frequently than would be expected based on the abundance of the trees under blackiana, , , guidonia, and mapora. The large number of nest plants suggests little active selection of nest sites by bullet ants. Small shrubs, however, are underused, probably because they do not provide access to the forest canopy. The study on BCI concluded trees with and may be selected for by bullet ants. Enemies This ant is a predator of , the glasswing butterfly. This butterfly attempts to combat P. clavata by producing chemical extracts during the l stage that are unpalatable to these ants. Parasites The small (1.5- to 2.0-mm-long) , , is a of injured workers of P. clavata, of which the supply is constant because frequent aggressive encounters occur between neighbouring colonies, resulting in maimed workers. The flies are able to parasitise healthy ants if the ants are artificially restrained, but healthy ants are agile and able to repel them. Both male and female flies are attracted by the scent of injured ants; the females , as well as feed, and the males feed and possibly mate with the females. The flies are attracted to a crushed ant within two to three minutes and 10 or more flies may be attracted to each ant. Each ant can harbour 20 fly . observed P. clavata actively trying to attack A. paraponerae when they approached the entrance to their nest. Relationship with humans Sting The bullet ant's sting is currently the highest on , at 4.0+. Some victims compared the pain to that of being shot, hence the name of the insect. It is described as causing "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours". , , and fresh blood appearing in human victim feces are common symptoms. , a paralyzing isolated from the , affects and blocks the in the . It is being investigated for possible medical applications. Initiation rites participating in an initiation rite }} The people of use intentional bullet ant stings as part of their s to become warriors. The ants are first rendered unconscious by submerging them in a natural sedative, and then 80 of them are woven into gloves made of leaves (which resembles a large ), s facing inward. When the ants regain consciousness, a boy slips the gloves onto his hands. The goal of this initiation rite is to keep the glove on for a full five minutes. When finished, the boy's hand and part of his arm are temporarily paralyzed because of the ant venom, and he may shake uncontrollably for days. The only "protection" provided is a coating of charcoal on the hands, supposedly to confuse the ants and inhibit their stinging. To fully complete the initiation, however, the boys must go through the ordeal 20 times over the course of several months or even years. References